2019 Indie Book Awards Shortlist announced

Australian independent booksellers are thrilled to announce their Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2019, for the best Australian books published in 2018!

Direct from their website, here is the Shortlist for the 2019 Indie Book Awards:

FICTION SHORTLIST
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Macmillan Australia)
Shell by Kristina Olsson (Scribner Australia)
The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton (Penguin Random House Australia)
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (Picador Australia)

NON-FICTION SHORTLIST
The Land Before Avocado by Richard Glover (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper (Penguin Random House Australia)
Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee (Allen & Unwin)
Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales (Penguin Random House Australia)

DEBUT FICTION SHORTLIST
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (HarperCollins Australia)
Scrublands by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Echo Publishing)
The Nowhere Child by Christian White (Affirm Press)

ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION SHORTLIST
A Painted Landscape: Across Australia from Bush to Coast by Amber Creswell Bell (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Marcia Langton: Welcome to Country by Marcia Langton (Hardie Grant Travel)
Family: New vegetable classics to comfort and nourish by Hetty McKinnon (Plum)
Australian Dreamscapes by Claire Takacs (Hardie Grant Books) 

CHILDREN’S SHORTLIST
All the Ways to be Smart by Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys (Illus) (Scribe Publications)
Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee (Allen & Unwin)
Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin)
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Hachette Australia)

YOUNG ADULT SHORTLIST
Hive by A. J. Betts (Pan Australia)
Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough (Hardie Grant Egmont)
A Song Only I Can Hear by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)

Since the Awards inception in 2008, the Indies have a well-deserved reputation for picking the best of the best in Australian writing. Past Book of the Year winners have gone on to be bestsellers and win other major literary awards. Previous winners include: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend, The Dry by Jane Harper; The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; The Bush by Don Watson; The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan; The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; All That I Am by Anna Funder; The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do; Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey; and Breath by Tim Winton.

The Category Winners and the Overall ‘Book of the Year’ Winner will be announced on Monday 18 March 2019 at the Leading Edge Books Annual Conference Awards Dinner to be held in Adelaide, SA.

Congratulations and good luck to all.